The Translator of Desires: Poems by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Translator of Desires: Poems by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Allan Graubard (bio) the translator of desires: poems Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, trans. Michael Sells Princeton University Press https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691181349/the-translator-of-desires 368 pages; Print, $21.51 From 711 to 1492 C.E., there developed in the Iberian Peninsula the Muslim empire of Al-Andulus. There is no question that its influence on Christian-Judaic Europe was profound. Its lead in science, mathematics, and philosophy was equaled by the elegance of its architecture, the refinements it brought to diet, and the beauty of its literature in poetry, especially the poetry of love, to name a few. Near the midpoint of the empire, in 1165, perhaps its greatest poet was born: Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi. From his first several years in Murcia, a town that has survived, now in southeastern Spain (near the Mediterranean), to all the cities and countries he explored thereafter, Ibn 'Arabi aroused exceptional interest. Although his life is not known in great detail, his lyrical gifts as poet and his brilliance as Sufi mystic and philosopher certainly are. Of his family, however, [End Page 169] we do know this: they were affluent members of the khãssa, or high society of Al-Andulus. They probably belonged to the Yemenite clan of the Banñ Tayy', which immigrated to Spain during the initial years of the Arab conquest. And after six or so years in Murcia, they moved to Seville, where Ibn 'Arabi grew up. At the time, Seville offered quite a cosmopolitan mix, where piety and debauchery paralleled each other, the latter especially along the banks of the Guadalquivir where prostitution thrived and poets gathered to sing their songs and discuss their art. Ibn 'Arabi's intensive formal education in religious, literary, and philosophical matters and his gaining notice as a prodigy therein also found its counterpoint at the river. As a result, in 1180 the philosopher and jurist Averroes, among the most celebrated of his day, gives the fifteen-year-old an audience and is struck by his intellect and intuition. One year later, in 1181, Ibn 'Arabi's life suddenly changes. While at a dinner party, above the din and revelry, he hears a voice that stops him in his tracks. The voice—aural hallucination or spiritual visitation?—tells him his fate lies elsewhere. Shaken, he slips away, wandering about until he comes to a local cemetery, where he notices a ruined tomb, and steps in. The back of the tomb opens onto a cave. There, in the relative darkness and silence, he spends a period of time in contemplation. Whether it lasts four days or fourteen months (the length of time is uncertain), he undergoes an ecstatic conversion that elevates him to the highest levels of mystic attainment. Thereafter, he renounces the wealth he was born into and leads an itinerant life in various communities of Sufis, with religious scholars, and with his fellow poets. From Al-Andulus he crosses the sea to Fez, Marrakech, Tunis, Cairo, and more. Then, in 1202, on the Hajj, he finally reaches Mecca. There, he experiences visions that will inspire much of the vast literature and philosophy he produces over the next four decades. That same year, his chance meeting with a beautiful, well-educated young woman, Nizam, who, near the Ka'ba, overhears him reciting a poem he has just composed but not yet written down, is decisive. Perhaps the daughter of a renowned shaykh, perhaps someone else, Nizam's understanding of poetry and love is precise. She tells Ibn 'Arabi that he has missed the boat; love consumes emotions and perceptions. There is no confusion, no "bewilderment" in love, at least of the sort that Ibn 'Arabi was playing with as a conceit. In [End Page 170] matters of love, sincerity requires that the poet be perfectly clear, including the longing that reveals it, the intimacies it grants, and its goal. This encounter, which commentators have likened to Dante's with Beatrice, evolves into a masterwork of the lyrical art, the sixty-one love poems that comprise the current book—first published in 1214, some twelve years after their meeting. Of...